Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu released the Swachh Survekshan (survey) Rankings 2017 on Thursday. The survey was carried out in 434 cities and towns of the country by Quality Council of India. As many as 421 assessors for on the spot assessment of 17,500 locations in 434 cities and towns and 55 people to regularly monitor the survey process in real time were deployed.

Cleanliness is not an easy task to achieve. It takes a lot of effort both in terms of finances and behavioral changes from the administration and people to keep a city clean. The Swachh Survekshan Rankings 2017 is a healthy practice in this regard but the cities have a long way to go.

Soon after becoming the Prime Minister of India in 2014, Narendra Modi had made cleanliness his one of the biggest missions and launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission). The programme has so far managed to make cleanliness one of the most talked about issues of the country. However, cities and villages have a long way to go.

On the lines of PM Modi, Yogi also made cleanliness his priority after taking oath as Uttar Pradesh CM on March this year. He also passed several orders in this regard, including a ban on chewing pan masala by government staff on duty. The Swachh Survey shows the poor cleanliness standard in Uttar Pradesh and Yogi government would have to make a lot of efforts to improve the ranking of the state’s cities in terms of cleanliness.

The poor state of cleanliness in UP is reflected from the fact that 10 out of 20 dirtiest cities in India are in Uttar Pradesh — Unnao, Badaun(Budaun), Baraut, Bulandshahr, Hapur, Khurja, Shahjahanpur, Bahraich, Hardoi and Gonda (which has been ranked as the dirtiest city of India). Uttar Pradesh’s capital city Lucknow also ranks lowly at 269.

Indore has emerged as the cleanest city in India, followed by Bhopal, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Mysuru, Tiruchirapally, New Delhi Municipal Council, Navi Mumbai, Vadodara, and Chandigarh.